December Jobs Report Sparks Wall Street Talks of 2025 Rate Hikes
Wall Street is buzzing about potential interest rate hikes in 2025 after a strong December jobs report.
December, Jobs Report, Wall Street, Rate Hikes, Federal Reserve, Inflation, Economy
New York: So, the December jobs report just dropped, and it’s got everyone talking. The numbers were way better than expected, with 256,000 new jobs added. That’s a lot more than the 165,000 that economists thought would happen. Plus, the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% from 4.2%. Pretty solid, right?
Bank of America’s economist, Aditya Bhave, thinks this could mean the Federal Reserve might not cut rates anytime soon. He even hinted that they might consider raising rates in 2025. But he also said that the Fed is still cautious, as they see current rates as pretty tight.
Now, inflation is still a big deal. The Fed’s favorite measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), showed prices went up 2.8% in November. That’s a bit higher than the previous month. And with the new president coming in, there’s chatter about how his policies might affect inflation too.
Consumer expectations for inflation are also on the rise. A recent survey showed folks expect inflation to hit 3.3% in the coming year, which is the highest it’s been since 2008. So, it’s clear that inflation is still a hot topic.
With all this in mind, it seems like the Fed is going to keep a close eye on inflation data moving forward. They’re not likely to cut rates in their next meeting, and a March cut seems pretty unlikely too. It’ll take some serious changes in the economy for them to think about cutting rates again.
Next week, we’ll get more info with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for December. Analysts expect inflation to rise to 2.9% annually, up from 2.7% in November. So, it looks like Wall Street will be focused on inflation data rather than job numbers for a while.
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